Columbretes

“The snakes, which the islands are named after, no longer exist today. It’s not entirely certain what snakes used to inhabit the island.

Most of the vipers found at that time are known to us thanks to a report by the engineer Eduardo Trujillo, who explained that the workers responsible for building the lighthouse killed 70 snakes on the first day they arrived on the island.

What’s more, there is a book—a sort of logbook, in which everything related to the work, the people, the meteorological data, and any other incident that occurred during the construction of the lighthouse was recorded regularly and precisely—that mentions the number of snakes that were killed (2700).

The snakes were slow movers. This fact hastened their extinction, and inspired the saying ‘Snake seen, snake captured’. Because those snakes do not reproduce in large numbers, rapid substitution was impossible. This fact also favoured their extinction.”

Urios, G., Nachtwey, J., Translation, Columbretes, 1895, Castellón City Council, 1990.